A 20-vehicle convoy of protestors opposing COVID-19 vaccine mandates protested outside of an Oakland lawmaker's Rockridge home on Friday afternoon, prompting some bystanders to loudly voice their displeasure with the group's tactics.
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The self-proclaimed "People's Convoy" demanded that Assemblymember Buffy Wicks leave her home to address them on Friday afternoon, honking and using their bullhorns to attract her attention. Wicks' office told the San Jose Mercury News that the lawmaker called law enforcement for protection.
Footage of the protest showed nearby residents were not pleased with the convoy’s methods. Some onlookers admonished the convoy to leave the area, while others threw eggs purchased at a nearby grocery store.
Protesters gathered in opposition of Wicks' since-shelved bill that would’ve required California workers and independent contractors to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19, as well as the Wicks-authored Assembly Bill 2223, which would bar someone helping a pregnant woman receive an abortion from facing civil or criminal liability.
Conservative and anti-abortion activists have falsely claimed that Wicks' bill would legalize infanticide, as have members of the convoy. Erin Ivie, Wicks' spokesperson, told KCBS Radio in an emailed statement on Sunday morning that Friday's demonstration lent "no legitimacy to baseless conspiracy theories from out of state protestors."
"Asm. Wicks will not indulge any attempts to influence her legislative work through harassment and intimidation tactics — especially when it's directed at her home and her family," Ivie wrote in an email.
California Highway Patrol officials told KCBS Radio that protestors gathered for about an hour, beginning at about 4 p.m. Officers responded to provide traffic control for "moderate" traffic congestion in the neighborhood, and a spokesperson said the Oakland Police Department didn't issue a dispersal order. No arrests were made, nor were any citations issued, and a CHP spokesperson said about five people left their vehicles.
"It was more or less a peaceful assembly," the spokesperson said. "A majority of the group remained in their vehicles."
The Oakland Police Department didn’t respond to KCBS Radio’s request for comment on Sunday morning.
Convoy participants have subsequently returned to Sacramento, where they protested outside of the State Capitol last week. The group employed the same tactics on Saturday outside of State Sen. Dr. Richard Pan's home. Pan is the author of a bill that would allow children above the age of 12 to be vaccinated without their parents’ consent, and a since-held proposal that would’ve added COVID-19 to the list of required immunizations and repeal the personal belief exemption.
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